1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a magnetic resonance device, comprising a main field magnet for generating a steady magnetic field in a measuring space for accommodating an object, a coil system for generating a gradient magnetic field, and an RF coil system which consists of several coil elements for detection of magnetic resonance signals to be generated in the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic resonance device of this kind is known from the international Patent Application WO 89/05115. The magnetic resonance device disclosed in the cited Patent Application is used to form partial images from magnetic resonance signals originating from separate coil elements. The partial images are combined so as to form an ultimate image of a sub-volume of the object measured by means of the RF coil system. The signals from the individual coil elements are detected in separate detection channels, are sampled and subsequently applied to processing means, completely independently from one another, in order to form the partial images and the ultimate image. The combination of the partial images so as to form an ultimate image should be executed pixel-wise in order to prevent the addition of noise. Because signal processing of the signals in the detection channels is performed in a completely independent manner, no restrictions exist as regards the orientation of the RF coil system relative to a measuring gradient field direction, i.e. given a predetermined measuring gradient field direction associated with a measuring sequence for executing a given magnetic resonance measurement, a free choice exists as regards the orientation of the RF coil system. The described magnetic resonance device, however, is comparatively expensive and complex because a separate detection channel is required for each individual coil element. Furthermore, generally speaking, several cable passages from a signal detection system arranged within a shielded measuring space of the magnetic resonance device to processing means situated outside the shielded space will be required.